CES 2008: OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner hands-on

The video is of one of our other staffers getting his hands on the device, but I also got some hands on time, and I have to say, that for an open source phone, it’s not too bad. It is a little sluggish, and the menu’s can be confusing since they are all picture based and the pictures don’t make much sense, but other than that, I like it.

It has a 266MHz processor, up from the 200 of the Neo 1973, and the new processor is of the SOC or system on a chip variation and is from Samsung. There still isn’t any 3G access, and it only has tri-band GSM, so international calling might work, but then again, it might not, depending on where you are.

It does however have Bluetooth 2.0, AGPS or assisted GPS, a microSD card slot, WiFi, 3D graphics, 2.8-inch VGA touch screen, and that’s pretty much it other than the fact that its all open and runs Linux. Another fun little tidbit though, is that it meets the bottom end, barebones requirements for running Android, in fact, with all the other hardware in the device, including the 3D graphics, if they would just up the processor speed, this would be a badass Android phone, but where it is now, I think it would have to run some sort of stripped down subset of Android just so you could still do stuff on it.